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Sally Morgan and Kim Stoddart show you how to be a climate change savvy gardener

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Bugle (Aduja reptans) looking great in the orchard Bugle (Aduja reptans) looking great in the orchard. It appeared a few years ago and is classed by some as a weed but it's very welcome in my patch. Busy with bees when the sun comes out. It provides great ground cover and adds to the biodiversity in the orchard, all for free! #rewildingmygarden
Another spring flowering favourite - cerinthe or h Another spring flowering favourite - cerinthe or honeywort - I love the shades of purple and blue - green that go so well with the geum. It's an easily grown self seeding annual. These are plants that have grown from seed in late autumn and start flowering in April. As the name suggests, they are popular with bees and other pollinators. I have more growing from seed sown last month and they will provide a continuous show of these lovely flowers through summer. Learn to identify the leaves and you soon have them popping up around the garden. #honeywort #cerinthe #cerinthemajor #annualflowers #sowseeds
Geum Totally Tangerine grabbing my attention - one Geum Totally Tangerine grabbing my attention - one of the late spring flowers in the kitchen garden that's bringing in the #bees and other #pollinators. Loves its hot, sunny spot on a south facing wall but I have to remember to divide and take cuttings as it's short lived. Looks lovely with cerinthe at this time of year
Modules of beetroot Cylindra. I have been looking Modules of beetroot Cylindra. I have been looking at biochar and root growth and these are examples from a couple of trays. Both were grown in #peatfree but those on the left were in peatfree with biochar. The plants are well grown and the roots have really extended through the module and the plants were really easy to remove from the trays. I use a lot of biochar having seen trials 10 years ago. It is a form of charcoal, created at high temps without oxygen ( pyrolysis) and the result is a black substance that holds water and nutrients. The enriched form is packed with fungi too.
Busy with bees - the cotoneaster growing along our Busy with bees - the cotoneaster growing along our south facing wall was buzzing with #honeybees and #bumblebees. Plus plenty of birdsong Cotoneaster is a useful shrub for hedging and against a wall, as its but so valuable to wildlife at both ends of the year, for pollinators in spring and then berries later in the year. And easy to grow too.
I couldn't miss this blast of colour in a friend's I couldn't miss this blast of colour in a friend's garden. The barberry or Berberis darwinii was at its best. Not only eye-catching, but busy supplying a constant stream of #pollinators. An easy to grow evergreen shrub that can be planted in full sun or light shade. I have tended to go for pyracantha rather than berberis but may have find a space for this in the new shrub border in the #walledgarden
One of my favourite spring bulbs - camassia. They One of my favourite spring bulbs - camassia. They have been spreading through our wild area, the clumps doubling up and looking more impressive each year. They continue the sequence of flowers, following the snakeshead fritillaries, celandines and violets A wet winter helped as they like it damp. They are probably Camassia leichtlinii bought as bulbs a decade ago in
Blossom for a dreary morning. Fortunately the appl Blossom for a dreary morning. Fortunately the apple and pear blossom missed the frosts but now has to cope with rain.
Does anybody else have the same problem? Being a l Does anybody else have the same problem? Being a leftie, I get though the lefthand glove more quickly than the right leaving me with a pile of right hands! Humm.......
Long lost patch of rhubarb emerging through a heav Long lost patch of rhubarb emerging through a heavy mulch of bark. Last month I strimmed and cardboarded an old flowerbed and covered it with a thick mulch to keep the weeds down. Lo and behold, rhubarb emerges!
Blossom looking lovely. This is a 🍒 in the orch Blossom looking lovely. This is a 🍒 in the orchard. There are two hives nearby so no shortage of pollinators.
Flies as pollinators 🪰we talk about bees but fl Flies as pollinators 🪰we talk about bees but flies are just as important pollinators in the garden. These spurge / euphorbia flowers rely on flies to pollinate their small flowers, so it wasn't surprising to see so many flies around this clump, attracted by the nectar on offer. Flies are second to bees when it comes to #pollination and often they are flying when it's too cold for bees, so despite their bad press are incredibly useful 🪰And there's a huge diversity of #flies (dipterans) - hoverflies, bee flies, houseflies, bluebottles, and some of my favourites the tachinid flies that are parasitic, laying eggs in garden pests.
After spotting lots of male orange tip butterflies After spotting lots of male orange tip butterflies, I found a female. You can see the mottled underside of the wings like the males which distinguishes it from a small white butterfly which are also on the wing at the moment. Orange tips are increasing their range and can be seen in gardens. To attract them, sow seeds of lady's smock, hedge mustard, garlic mustard - all members of the crucifer family. They like to shelter in ivy too.
Earth Day - there's lots of little changes that a Earth Day - there's lots of little changes that a gardener can do to help the planet and using #peatfree compost and buying plants raised in peatfree is top of my list. Peat is still dug from the ground not 25 miles from where I live in Somerset, destroying valuable wetland habitats just so that a gardener can fill a pot or sow some seeds. You can see the damage from #glastonburytor. I discussed the issue with @sow_much_more and @sharpenyourspades on their podcast @the.seed.pod Peatlands are under threat in many other places - Lancashire, Cumbria, Cheshire, Scotland and further afield in Ireland, Poland, Estonia, Canada and so the list goes on ...... It's complete madness as peat sequesters so much carbon, more than rainforests and is home to many species not found anywhere else. So gardeners may say they reuse plastic pots, avoid single use plastics, grow their own food but avoiding peat trumps all of these actions - it's a no brainer. And this is why gardeners and garden writers have been campaigning this month to raise awareness amongst gardeners through #peatfreeapril. We've had huge support this year which is encouraging but more needs to be done. So please support the campaign. Find out more on @peatfreeapril on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook where you will find loads of information, links to the govt petition, lots of videos and you can watch @dave.goulson message on peat. Take the pledge and go #peatfree
Finally ... spotted an orange tip butterfly. Here Finally ... spotted an orange tip butterfly. Here is a male butterfly on lady's smock ( or cuckoo plant), one of their larval food plants. Love it's green eyes! No sign of the females yet but I'm sure that they will be along soon. Ladys smock (Cardamine pratensis) has been spreading here. When we first moved here 16 years ago there was hardly any as the fields were sprayed, but now with #organic management it's popping up everywhere and each year we see more of these spring #butterflies.
New shoots on the vine. Its an old plant and I gav New shoots on the vine. Its an old plant and I gave it a really hard prune back in autumn so relieved to see some of the oldest branches producing new shoots
Can't miss the #peatfree label on these chilli pla Can't miss the #peatfree label on these chilli plants, great to see suppliers opting for peatfree from seed to pot. It's #peatfreeapril so look out for peatfree products from potting compost to pot plants - evey little action helps to protect valuable peatlands in the UK and from wider afield including Estonia If you can't see peatfree on the front of the compost bag or on the labels, it probably contains peat @_suttons1806 @waitrose
Courgette seedling destined for the corner of the Courgette seedling destined for the corner of the #polytunnel. I look for varieties with good taste rather than yield so generally opt for the Italian varieties. This year I'm trying an organic one called Cocozella from @theorganiccatalogue it's a bush variety so won't take up as much space
Seedlings looking good. These are beetroot cylindr Seedlings looking good. These are beetroot cylindra, from @theorganiccatalogue, one of my favourites for slicing. They are growing in #peatfree of course, in this case it's carbon gold with biochar ( @carbon_gold_biochar ) so expecting some super root growth.
Make your own potting compost for #peatfreeapril Make your own potting compost for #peatfreeapril - no need to buy potting compost as you can make your own #peatfree from a mix of homemade compost, leaf mould and 'molehill loam'. A far more sustainable approach to gardening, making use of materials from the garden - a closed loop system. You can add sand or grit and tweak the recipe to suit all needs. Check out the brilliant guide written by @gardenorganicuk on making seed, seedling and potting composts
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Authors

  • Kim Stoddart Kim Stoddart
    • Soil health
    • In search of good companions
    • Plants to leave in the ground
    • Saving seeds of resilience part 1
    • Wellbeing through gardening
  • Sally Morgan Sally Morgan
    • It’s going to rain this week!
    • My garden’s been flooded, what can I do?
    • Urban creep increases the risk of flooding
    • Saving seeds of resilience part 2
    • Climate change gardening at RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival

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